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Monday, December 19, 2011

It started by checking my balance with Sallie Mae as I had a late night video conversation with a friend. I was checking as we spoke, worried about payment deadlines, and if I would make it without having them bombard my inbox and send their polite threats. Many like myself, US graduates with degrees from accredited universities, have been forced to flee abroad as the job market shriveled upon our graduation. And so I thought a return to the homeland would be a pleasant time to catch up with my history.

I did not tell my friend what I was doing online, and the conversation continued as usual. Jokes, laughter, the typical check in. And then--my face contorted in the way it typically does when I am upset, my eyes got huge and damp, and before my friend was able to ask what was wrong with my face, I was already making a long distance call.

Yesterday marked the so called completion of the prisoner swap agreement, which commenced on October 18, 2011, when Gilad Shalit was released for a total of 1,027 Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons in two separate waves. Yet it must be noted that the numbers do not change any of the ideology or tactics employed by the occupying Israeli entity that continues to suffocate Palestinian security and livelihood.